“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and
Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of
vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”

How then doth Christ say, that
they did not believe John?456456Luke xx.
5. Because this was not believing, to decline receiving Him whom he
preached. For so they thought they regarded their prophets and their
lawgiver, nevertheless He said they had not regarded them, forasmuch as
they received not Him, that was foretold by them. “For if ye had
65
believed Moses,” saith He,
“ye would have believed Me.”457457John v.
46. And after this again, being asked by Christ, “The baptism of
John, whence is it?”458458Matt. xxi.
25, 26.they said, “If we shall say, Of earth, we fear the people; if we
shall say, From heaven, He will say unto us, How then did ye not
believe him?”

So that from all these things it is manifest that they
came indeed and were baptized, yet they did not abide in the belief of
that which was preached. For John also points out their wickedness, by
their sending459459 [“When some of them were
sending.”—R.]unto the Baptist, and saying, “Art thou Elias? Art thou
Christ?” wherefore he also added, “they which were sent
were of the Pharisees.”460460John i.
24.

“What then? were not the multitudes also of this
same mind”? one may say. Nay, the multitudes in simplicity of
mind had this suspicion, but the Pharisees, wishing to lay hold of Him.
For since it was acknowledged that Christ comes out of the village of
David, and this man was of the tribe of Levi, they laid a snare by the
question, in order that if he should say any such thing they might
quickly come upon him. This at any rate he hath declared by what
follows; for on his not acknowledging any of the things which they
expected, even so they take hold of him, saying, “Why baptizest
thou then, if thou be not the Christ?”461461John i.
25.

And to convince thee that the Pharisees came with one
mind, and the people with another, hear how the evangelist hath
declared this too; saying of the people, “that they came and were
baptized of him, confessing their sins;”462462Matt. iii.
6.but concerning the Pharisees, no longer like that, but that “when
he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming, he said, O
generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to
come?” O greatness of mind! How doth he discourse unto men ever
thirsting after the blood of the prophets, and in disposition no better
than serpents! how doth he disparage both themselves and their
progenitors with all plainness!

2. “Yea,” saith one; “he speaks
plainly enough, but the question is if there be any reason in this
plainness. For he did not see them sinning, but in the act of change;
wherefore they did not deserve blame, but rather praise and
approbation, for having left city and houses, and making haste to hear
his preaching.”

What then shall we say? That he had not things present,
and even now doing, in his view, but he knew the secrets of their mind,
God having revealed this. Since then they were priding themselves on
their forefathers, and this was like to prove the cause of their
destruction, and was casting them into a state of carelessness, he cuts
away the roots of their pride. For this cause Isaiah also calls them,
“rulers of Sodom,” and “people of
Gomorrah;”463463Is. i.
10.and another prophet saith, “Are ye not as children of the
Ethiopians;”464464Amos ix.
7.and all withdraw them from this way of thinking, bringing down their
pride, which had caused them unnumbered evils.

“But the prophets,” you will say,
“naturally did so; for they saw them sinning: but in this case,
with what view and for what cause doeth he the same, seeing them obey
him.” To make them yet more tender-hearted.

But if one accurately mark his words, he hath also
tempered his rebuke with commendation. For he spake these things, as
marveling at them, that they were become able, however late, to do what
seemed almost an impossibility for them. His rebuke, you see, is rather
that of one bringing them over, and working upon them to arouse
themselves. For in that he appears amazed, he implies both their former
wickedness to be great, and their conversion marvellous and beyond
expectation. Thus, “what hath come to pass,” saith he,
“that being children of those men, and brought up so badly, they
have repented? Whence hath come so great a change? Who hath softened
down the harshness of their spirit? Who corrected that which was
incurable?”

And see how straightway from the beginning he alarmed
them, by laying first, for a foundation, his words concerning hell. For
he spake not of the usual topics: “Who hath warned you to flee
from wars, from the inroads of the barbarians, from captivities, from
famines, from pestilences?” but concerning another sort of
punishment, never before made manifest to them, he was striking the
first preparatory note, saying thus, “Who hath warned you to flee
from the wrath to come?”

And full well did he likewise call them,
“generation of vipers.” For that animal too is said to
destroy the mother that is in travail with her, and eating through her
belly, thus to come forth unto light; which kind of thing these men
also did being “murderers of fathers, and murderers of
mothers,”4654651 Tim. i.
9.and destroying their instructors with their own hands.

For to flee from wickedness is not enough, but you must
show forth also great virtue. For let me not have that contradictory
yet ordinary467467 [συνθη ]case, that468468 The correct reading seems to be ὅτε,
“when,” not ὅτι, “that.”—R]refraining yourselves for a little while, ye return unto the same
wickedness. For we are not come for the same objects as the prophets
before. Nay, the things that are now are changed, and are more exalted,
forasmuch as the Judge henceforth is coming, His very self, the very
Lord of the kingdom, leading unto greater self-restraint, calling us to
heaven, and drawing us upward to those abodes. For this cause do I
unfold the doctrine also touching hell, because both the good things
and the painful are for ever. Do not therefore abide as ye are, neither
bring forward the accustomed pleas, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the noble
race of your ancestors.”

And these things he said, not as forbidding them to say
that they were sprung from those holy men, but as forbidding them to
put confidence in this, while they were neglecting the virtue of the
soul; at once bringing forward publicly what was in their minds, and
foretelling things to come. Because after this they are found to say,
“We have Abraham to our father, and were never in bondage to any
man.”469469John viii.
33. Since then it was this, which most of all lifted them up with pride and
ruined them, he first puts it down.

And see how with his honor paid to the patriarch he
combines his correction touching these things. Namely, having said,
“Think not to say, We have Abraham to our father,” he said
not, “for the patriarch shall not be able to profit you
anything,” but somehow in a more gentle and acceptable manner he
intimated the self-same thing, by saying,

Now some say, that concerning the Gentiles he saith
these things, calling them stones, metaphorically; but I say,
that the expression hath also another meaning. But of what kind is
this? Think not, saith he, that if you should perish, you would make
the patriarch childless. This is not, this is not so. For with God it
is possible, both out of stones to give him men, and to bring them to
that relationship; since at the beginning also it was so done. For it
was like the birth of men out of stones, when a child came forth from
that hardened womb.

This accordingly the prophet also was intimating, when
he said, “Look unto the hard rock, whence ye are hewn, and to the
hole of the pit, whence ye are digged: look unto Abraham your father,
and unto Sarah that bare you.”471471Is. li. 1,
2. Now of this prophecy, you see, he reminds them, showing that if at the
beginning he made him a father, as marvellously as if he had made him
so out of stones, it was possible for this now also to come to pass.
And see how he both alarms them, and cuts them off: in that he said
not, “He had already raised up,” lest they should despair
of themselves, but that He “is able to raise up:” and he
said not, “He is able out of stones to make men,” but what
was a much greater thing, “kinsmen and children of
Abraham.”

Seest thou how for the time he drew them off from their
vain imagination about things of the body, and from their refuge in
their forefathers; in order that they might rest the hope of their
salvation in their own repentance and continence? Seest thou how by
casting out their carnal relationship, he is bringing in that which is
of faith?

4. Mark then how by what follows also he increases their
alarm, and adds intensity to their agonizing fear.

For having said that “God is able of these stones
to raise up children unto Abraham,” he added, “And now also
the axe is laid unto the root of the trees,”472472Matt. iii.
10. [R.V., “And even
now is the axe laid,” etc.—R.]by all means making his speech alarming. For as he from his way of life
had much freedom of speech, so they needed his severe rebuke, having
been left barren473473χερσωθντε.now for a long time. For “why do I say” (such are his
words) “that ye are on the point of falling away from your
relationship to the patriarch and of seeing others, even those that are
of stones, brought in to your pre-eminence? Nay, not to this point only
will your penalty reach, but your punishment will proceed further.
“For now,” saith he, “the axe is laid unto the root
of the trees.” There is nothing more terrible than this turn of
his discourse. For it is no longer “a flying sickle,”474474Zech. v.
1, LXX.nor “the taking down of a hedge,” nor “the treading
under foot of the vineyard;”475475Is. v.
5.but an axe exceeding sharp, and what is worse, it is even at the doors.
For inasmuch as they continually disbelieved the prophets, and used to
say, “Where is the day of the Lord:”476476 See Amos v.
18; Jer. xvii. 15; Ezek. xii. 22, 27.and “let
67
the counsel of the
Holy One of Israel come, that we may know it,”477477Is. v.
19.by reason that it was many years before what they said came to pass; to
lead them off from this encouragement also, he sets the terrors close
to them. And this he declared by saying “now,” and by his
putting it to “the root.” “For the space between is
nothing now,” saith he, “but it is laid to the very
root.” And he said not, “to the branches,” nor
“to the fruits,” but “to the root.” Signifying,
that if they were negligent, they would have incurable horrors to
endure, and not have so much as a hope of remedy. It being no servant
who is now come, as those before Him were, but the very Lord of all,
bringing on them His fierce and most effectual vengeance.

Yet, although he hath terrified them again, he suffers
them not to fall into despair; but as before he said not “He hath
raised up,” but “He is able to raise up children to
Abraham” (at once both alarming and comforting them); even so
here also he did not say that “it hath touched the root,”
but “it is laid to the root, and is now hard by it, and shows
signs of no delay.” However, even though He hath brought it so
near, He makes its cutting depend upon you. For if ye change and become
better men, this axe will depart without doing anything; but if ye
continue in the same ways, He will tear up the tree by the roots. And
therefore, observe, it is neither removed from the root, nor applied as
it is doth it cut at all: the one, that ye may not grow supine, the
other to let you know that it is possible even in a short time to be
changed and saved. Wherefore he doth also from all topics heighten
their fear, thoroughly awakening and pressing them on to repentance.
Thus first their falling away from their forefathers; next, others
being introduced instead; lastly, those terrors being at their doors,
the certainty of suffering incurable evils (both which he declared by
the root and the axe), was sufficient to rouse thoroughly those even
that were very supine, and to make them full of anxiety. I may add,
that Paul too was setting forth the same, when he said, “A short
word478478λγον.will the Lord make upon the whole world.”479479Rom. ix.
28.

But be not afraid; or rather, be afraid, but despair
not. For thou hast yet a hope of change; the sentence is not quite
absolute,480480ατοτελς,
self-executed.neither did the axe come to cut (else what hindered it from cutting,
close as it was to the root?); but on purpose by this fear to make thee
a better man, and to prepare thee to bring forth fruit. For this cause
he added, “Therefore every tree, which bringeth not forth good
fruit, is hewn down, and cast into the fire.”481481Matt. iii.
10. Now by the word “every,” he rejects again the privilege
which they had from their noble descent; “Why, if thou be
Abraham’s own descendant,” saith he, “if thou have
thousands of patriarchs to enumerate, thou wilt but undergo a double
punishment, abiding unfruitful.”

By these words he alarmed even publicans, the
soldiers’ mind was startled by him, not casting them into
despair, yet ridding them of all security. For along with the terror,
there is also much encouragement in what he saith; since by the
expression, “which bringeth not forth good fruit,” he
signified that what bears fruit is delivered from all vengeance.

5. “And how,” saith one, “shall we be
able to bring forth fruit, when the edge is being applied, and the time
so strait, and the appointed season cut short.” “Thou wilt
be able,” saith he, “for this fruit is not of the same kind
as that of common trees, waiting a long time, and in bondage to the
necessities482482ἀναγκα.of seasons, and requiring much other management; but it is enough to be
willing, and the tree at once hath put forth its fruit. For not the
nature of the root only, but also the skill of the husbandman
contributes the most to that kind of fruit-bearing.”

For (let me add) on account of this,—lest they
should say, “Thou art alarming and pressing, and constraining us,
applying an axe, and threatening us with being cut down, yet requiring
produce in time of punishment,”—he hath added, to signify
the ease of bearing that fruit, “I indeed baptize you with water,
but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, the latchet of whose
shoe I am not worthy to unloose; He shall baptize you with the Holy
Ghost and with fire:”483483Matt. iii. 11. Comp. Luke iii. 16. [In neither passage is the preposition
repeated in the Greek text. Chrysostom (see sec. 6) interprets
“fire” as part of the blessing promised. So many modern
commentators.—R.]implying hereby that consideration484484 [γνμη.]only is needed and faith, not labors and toils; and as it is easy to be
baptized, so is it easy to be converted, and to become better men. So
having stirred their mind by the fear of God’s judgment,
and the expectation of His punishment, and by the mention of the
axe, and by the loss of their ancestors, and by the bringing in of
those other children, and by the double vengeance of cutting off and
burning, and having by all means softened their hardness, and brought
them to desire deliverance from so great evils; then he brings in what
68
he hath to say touching Christ; and
not simply, but with a declaration of His great superiority. Then in
setting forth the difference between himself and Him, lest he should
seem to say this out of favor, he establishes the fact by comparison of
the gifts bestowed by each of them. For he did not at once say,
“I am not worthy to unloose the latchet of His shoe;” but
when he had first set forth the little value of his own baptism, and
had shown that it hath nothing more than to lead them to repentance
(for he did not say with water of remission, but of repentance), he
sets forth Christ’s also, which is full of the unspeakable gift.
Thus he seems to say, “Lest, on being told that He cometh after
me, thou shouldest despise Him as having come later; learn thou the
virtue485485 [δναμιν.]of His gift, and thou wilt clearly know that I uttered nothing worthy
nor great, when I said, “I am not worthy to unloose the latchet
of His shoe.” So too when thou art told, “He is mightier
than I,” do not think I said this in the way of making a
comparison. For I am not worthy to be ranked so much as among His
servants, no, not even the lowest of His servants, nor to receive the
least honored portion of His ministry.” Therefore He did not
merely say, “His shoes,” but not even “the
latchet,” which kind of office was counted the last of all. Then
to hinder thy attributing what he had said to humility, he adds also
the proof from the facts: “For He shall baptize you,” saith
he, “with the Holy Ghost and with fire.”

6. Seest thou how great is the wisdom of the Baptist?
how, when He Himself is preaching, He saith everything to alarm, and
fill them with anxiety; but when He is sending men to Him, whatever was
mild and apt to recover them: not bringing forward the axe, nor the
tree that is cut down and burnt, and cast into the fire, nor the wrath
to come, but remission of sins, and removing of punishment, and
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, and adoption, and
brotherhood, and a partaking of the inheritance, and an abundant supply
of the Holy Ghost. For all these things he obscurely denoted, when he
said, “He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost;” at once,
by the very figure of speech, declaring the abundance of the grace (for
he said not, “He will give you the Holy Ghost,” but
“He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost”); and by the
specification of fire on the other hand indicating the vehement and
uncontrollable quality of His grace.

Imagine only what sort of men it was meet for the
hearers to become, when they considered that they were at once to be
like the prophets, and like those great ones. For it was on this
account, you see, that he made mention at all of fire; that he might
lead them to reflect on the memory of those men. Because, of all the
visions that appeared unto them, I had almost said, the more part
appeared in fire; thus God discoursed with Moses in the bush, thus with
all the people in the mount Sinai, thus with Ezekiel on the
cherubim.486486Ezek. i.
27.

And mark again how he rouses the hearer, by putting that
first which was to take place after all. For the Lamb was to be slain,
and sin to be blotted out, and the enmity to be destroyed, and the
burial to take place, and the resurrection, and then the Spirit to
come. But none of these things doth he mention as yet, but that first
which was last, and for the sake of which all the former were done, and
which was fittest to proclaim His dignity; so that when the hearer
should be told that he was to receive so great a Spirit he might search
with himself, how and in what manner this shall be, while sin so
prevails; that finding him full of thought and prepared for that
lesson, he might thereupon introduce what he had to say touching the
Passion, no man being any more offended, under the expectation of such
a gift.

Wherefore he again cried out, saying, “Behold the
Lamb of God, which beareth the sin of the world.”487487John i.
29; Engl. Vers. in
marg. [So R.V. marg. The Greek phrase is ὁαρων, “he that taketh
up.”—R.] He did not say, “which remitteth,” but, that which implies
a more guardian care, “which heareth it.” For it is not all
one, simply to remit, and to take it upon Himself.488488 [ατν
ναλαβεν is the better
supported reading, but various conjectural emendations occur.
“Himself to assume it,” is the most literal
rendering.—R.] For the one was to be done without peril, the other with death.

And again, he said, “He is Son of God.”489489John i.
34. But not even this declared His rank openly to the hearers (for they did
not so much as know yet how to conceive of Him as a true Son): but by
so great a gift of the Spirit that also was established. Therefore the
Father also in sending John gave him, as you know, this as a
first token of the dignity of Him that was come, saying, “Upon
whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining, the same is He
which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.”490490John i. 33,
34. [ R.V. more correctly,
“I have seen, and have borne witness,” etc. The Greek
perfects are to be taken in their grammatical sense, as the comment of
Chrysostom implies.—R.] Wherefore himself too
69
saith,
“I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God;” as
though the one were to all time the clear evidence of the other.

7. Then, as having uttered the gentler part of his
message, and soothed and relaxed the hearer, he again binds him up,
that he may not become remiss. For such was the nature of the Jewish
nation; by all encouraging things they were easily puffed up, and
corrupted. Wherefore he again adduces his terrors, saying, “Whose
fan is in His hand.”491491Matt. iii.
12.

Thus, as before he had spoken of the punishment, so here
he points out the Judge likewise, and introduces the eternal vengeance.
For “He will burn the chaff,” saith he, “with
unquenchable fire.” Thou seest that He is Lord of all things, and
that He is Himself the Husbandman; albeit in another place He calls His
Father the same. For “My Father,” saith He, “is the
Husbandman.”492492John xv.
1. Thus, inasmuch as He had spoken of an axe, lest thou shouldest suppose
that the thing needed labor, and the separation was hard to make; by
another comparison he suggests the easiness of it, implying that all
the world is His; since He could not punish those who were not His own.
For the present, it is true, all are mingled together (for though the
wheat appears gleaming through, yet it lies with the chaff, as on a
threshing floor, not as in a garner), but then, great will be the
separation.

Where now are they by whom hell-fire493493 [γενν.]is disbelieved? Since surely here are two points laid down, one, that
He will baptize with the Holy Ghost, the other, that He will burn up
the disobedient. If then that is credible, so is this too, assuredly.
Yea, this is why the two predictions are put by him in immediate
connection, that by that which hath taken place already, he might
accredit the other, as yet unaccomplished. For Christ too Himself in
many places doth so, often of the same things, and often of opposites,
setting down two prophecies; the one of which He performs here, the
other He promises in the future; that such as are too contentious may,
from the one which has already come to pass, believe the other also,
which is not yet accomplished. For instance, to them that strip
themselves of all that they have for His sake494494Mark x. 30;
Luke xviii. 30. He promised to give an hundred fold in the present world, and life
eternal in that which is to come; by the things already given making
the future also credible. Which, as we see, John likewise hath done in
this place; laying down two things, that He shall both baptize with the
Holy Ghost, and burn up with unquenchable fire. Now then, if He had not
baptized with the Spirit the apostles, and all every day who are
willing, thou mightest have doubts concerning those other things too;
but if that which seems to be greater and more difficult, and which
transcends all reason, hath been done, and is done every day; how
deniest thou that to be true, which is easy, and comes to pass
according to reason? Thus having said, “He shall baptize with the
Holy Ghost and with fire,” and having thence promised great
blessings; lest thou, released wholly from the former things, grow
supine, he hath added the fan, and the judgment thereby declared. Thus,
“think not at all,” saith he, “that your baptism
suffices, if ye become ordinary persons495495 [φαλοι,
“worthless.”—R.]hereafter:” for we need both virtue, and plenty of that known
self-restraint.496496φιλοσοφα. Therefore as by the axe he urges them unto grace, and unto the font, so
after grace he terrifies them by the fan, and the unquenchable fire.
And of the one sort, those yet unbaptized, he makes no distinction, but
saith in general, “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit
is hewn down,”497497Matt. iii.
10.punishing all the unbelievers. Whereas after baptism He works out a
kind of division, because many of them that believed would exhibit a
life unworthy of their faith.

Let no man then become chaff, let no one be tossed to
and fro, nor lie exposed to wicked desires, blown about by them easily
every way. For if thou continue wheat, though temptation be brought on
thee, thou wilt suffer nothing dreadful; nay, for in the threshing
floor, the wheels of the car, that are like saws,498498πριστηροειδ,
see Is. xl. 15.do not cut in pieces the wheat; but if thou fall away into the weakness
of chaff, thou wilt both here suffer incurable ills, being smitten of
all men, and there thou wilt undergo the eternal punishment. For all
such persons both before that furnace become food for the irrational
passions here, as chaff is for the brute animal: and there again they
are material and food for the flame.

Now to have said directly that He will judge men’s
doings, would not so effectually procure acceptance for His doctrine:
but to blend with it the parable, and so establish it all, was apter to
persuade the hearer, and attract him by a more ample encouragement.
Wherefore also Christ Himself499499 [The better supported text seems to be ατς, without ὁ
χριστς; the latter is
an explanatory gloss.—R.]for the most part so discourses with them; threshing floor,
70
and harvest, and vineyard, and
wine-press, and field, and net, and fishing, and all things familiar,
and among which they were busied He makes ingredients in His
discourses. This kind of thing then the Baptist likewise did here, and
offered an exceeding great demonstration of his words, the giving of
the Spirit. For “He who hath so great power, as both to forgive
sins, and to give the Spirit, much more will these things also be
within His power:” so he speaks.

“And wherefore,” it may be said, “did
he not mention the signs and wonders which were straightway to be done
by Him?” Because this was greater than all, and for its sake all
those were done. Thus, in his mention of the chief thing, he
comprehended all; death dissolved, sins abolished, the curse blotted
out, those long wars done away; our entrance into paradise,502502 [“The loosing of death, the abolition of
sins,” etc., “the entrance into Paradise,” etc. The
construction is the same throughout the list.—R.]our ascent into heaven, our citizenship with the angels, our partaking
of the good things to come: for in truth this is the earnest of them
all. So that in mentioning this, he hath mentioned also the
resurrection of our bodies, and the manifestation of His miracles here,
and our partaking of His kingdom, and the good things, which “eye
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man.”5035031 Cor. ii.
9. For all these things He bestowed on us by that gift. It was therefore
superfluous to speak of the signs that were immediately to ensue, and
which sight can judge of; but those were meet to be discoursed on,
whereof they doubted; as for instance, that He is the Son of God; that
He exceeds John beyond comparison; that He “beareth504504 [See note 3 on sec. 6, p. 71.—R.]the sin of the world;” that He will require an account of all
that we do; that our interests are not limited to the present, but
elsewhere every one will undergo the due penalty. For these things were
not as yet proveable by sight.

8. Therefore, knowing these things, let us use great
diligence, while we are in the threshing floor; for it is possible
while we are here, to change even out of chaff into wheat, even as on
the other hand many from wheat have become chaff. Let us not then be
supine, nor be carried about with every wind; neither let us separate
ourselves from our brethren, though they seem to be small and mean;
forasmuch as the wheat also compared with the chaff is less in measure,
but better in nature. Look not therefore to the forms of outward pomp,
for they are prepared for the fire, but to this godly humility, so firm
and indissoluble, and which cannot be cut, neither is burnt by the
fire. It being for their sake that He bears long with the very chaff,
that by their intercourse with them they may become better. Therefore
judgment is not yet, that we may be all crowned together, that from
wickedness many may be converted unto virtue.

Let us tremble then at hearing this parable. For indeed
that fire is unquenchable. “And how,” it may be said,
“is it unquenchable?” Seest thou not this sun ever burning,
and never quenched? didst thou not behold the bush burning, and not
consumed? If then thou also desirest to escape the flame, lay up alms
beforehand, and so thou wilt not even taste of that fire. For if, while
here, thou wilt believe what is told thee, thou shalt not so much as
see this furnace, after thy departure into that region; but if thou
disbelieve it now, thou shalt know it there full well by experience,
when no sort of escape is possible. Since in truth no entreaty shall
avert the punishment from them who have not shown forth an upright
life. For believing surely is not enough, since even the devils tremble
at God, but for all that they will be punished.

9. Wherefore our care of our conduct hath need to be
great. Why, this is the very reason of our continually assembling you
here; not simply that ye should enter in, but that ye should also reap
some fruit from your continuance here. But if ye come indeed
constantly, but go away again reaping no fruit from thence, ye will
have no advantage from your entering in and attendance in this
place.

For if we, when sending children to teachers, should we
see them reaping no benefit thereby, begin to be severe in blaming the
teachers, and remove them often to others; what excuse shall we have
for not bestowing upon virtue even so much diligence as upon these
earthly things, but forever bringing our tablets home empty? And yet
our teachers here are more in number and greater. For no less than
prophets and apostles and patriarchs, and all righteous men, are by us
set over you as teachers in every Church. And not even so is there any
profit, but if you have joined in chanting two or three Psalms, and
making the accustomed prayers at random and anyhow, are so dismissed,
ye think this enough for your salvation. Have ye not heard the prophet,
saying (or rather God by the prophet), “This people honoreth me
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with their lips, but their heart
is far from me?”505505Is. xxix. 13; comp. Mark vii. 6.

Therefore, lest this be our case too, wipe thou out the
letters, or rather the impressions, which the devil hath engraven in
thy soul; and bring me a heart set free from worldly tumults, that
without fear I may write on it what I will. Since now at least there is
nothing else to discern, except his letters;—rapines, covetings,
envy, jealousy. Wherefore of course, when I receive your tablets, I am
not able so much as to read them. For I find not the letters, which we
every Lord’s day inscribe on you, and so let you go; but others,
instead of these, unintelligible and misshapen. Then, when we have
blotted them out, and have written those which are of the Spirit, ye
departing, and giving up your hearts to the works of the devil, give
him again power to substitute his own characters in you. What then will
be the end of all this, even without any words of mine, each
man’s own conscience knoweth. For I indeed will not cease to do
my part, and to write in you the right letters. But if ye mar our
diligence, for our part our reward is unaltered, but your danger is not
small.

Now, though I would fain say nothing to disgust you, yet
I beseech again and entreat you,506506 [The first clause stands independently in the Greek
text, forming the conclusion of the preceding paragraph. The new
exhortation begins, “But I beseech again,”
etc.—R.]imitate at least the little children’s diligence in these
matters. For so they first learn the form of the letters, after that
they practise themselves in distinguishing them put out of shape, and
then at last in their reading they proceed orderly by means of them.
Just so let us also do; let us divide virtue, and learn first not to
swear, nor to forswear ourselves, nor to speak evil; then proceeding to
another row,507507στχον.not to envy, not to lust, not to be gluttonous, not to be drunken, not
fierce, not slothful, so that from these we may pass on again to the
things of the Spirit, and practise continence, and neglect of the
belly, temperance, righteousness, to be above glory, and gentle and
contrite in mind; and let us join these one with another, and write
them upon our soul.

10. And all these let us practise at home, with our own
friends, with our wife, with our children. And, for the present, let us
begin with the things that come first, and are easier; as for instance,
with not swearing; and let us practise this one letter continually at
home. For, in truth, there are many at home to hinder this our
practice; sometimes a man’s servant provoking him, sometimes his
wife annoying and angering him, sometimes an indocile and disorderly
child urges him on to threatening and swearing. If now at home, when
thus continually galled, thou shouldest attain not to be tempted into
swearing, thou wilt in the market-place also have power with ease to
abide unconquered.

Yea, and in like sort, thou wilt attain to keep thyself
from insulting any, by not insulting thy wife, nor thy servants, nor
any one else among those in thy house. For a man’s wife too not
seldom, praising this or that person, or bemoaning herself, stirs him
up to speak evil of that other. But do not thou let thyself be
constrained to speak evil of him that is praised, but bear it all
nobly. And if thou shouldest perceive thy servants praising other
masters, be not perturbed, but stand nobly. Let thy home be a sort of
lists, a place of exercise for virtue, that having trained thyself well
there, thou mayest with entire skill encounter all abroad.

Do this with respect to vainglory also. For if thou
train thyself not to be vainglorious in company of thy wife and thy
servants, thou wilt not ever afterwards be easily caught by this
passion with regard to any one else. For though this malady be in every
case grievous and tyrannical, yet is it so especially when a woman is
present. If we therefore in that instance put down its power, we shall
easily master it in the other cases also.

And with respect to the other passions too, let us do
this self-same thing, exercising ourselves against them at home, and
anointing ourselves every day.

And that our exercise may be easier, let us further
enact a penalty for ourselves, upon our transgressing any of our
purposes. And let the very penalty again be such as brings with it not
loss, but reward,—such as procures some very great gain. And this
is so, if we sentence ourselves to intenser fastings, and to sleeping
often on the bare ground, and to other like austerity. For in this way
will much profit come unto us from every quarter; we shall both live
the sweet life of virtue here, and we shall attain unto the good things
to come and be perpetually friends of God.

But in order that the same may not happen
again,—that ye may not, having here admired what is said, go your
way, and cast aside at random, wherever it may chance, the tablet of
your mind, and so allow the devil to blot out these things;—let
each one, on returning home, call his own wife, and tell her these
things, and take her to help him; and from this day let him enter into
that noble school of exercise, using for oil the supply of the
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Spirit. And though thou fall once, twice,
many times in thy training, despair not, but stand again, and wrestle;
and do not give up until thou hast bound on thee the glorious crown of
triumph over the devil, and hast for the time to come stored up the
riches of virtue in an inviolable treasure-house.

For if thou shouldest establish thyself in the habits of
this noble self-restraint, then, not even when remiss, wilt thou be
able to transgress any of the commandments, habit imitating the
solidity of nature. Yea, as to sleep is easy, and to eat, and to drink,
and to breathe, so also will the deeds of virtue be easy to us, and we
shall reap to ourselves that pure pleasure, resting in a harbor without
a wave, and enjoying continual calm, and with a great freight bringing
our vessel into haven, in that City, on that day; and we shall attain
unto the undecaying crowns, unto which may we all attain, by the grace
and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be all glory and
might, now and always, and world without end. Amen.

483Matt. iii. 11. Comp. Luke iii. 16. [In neither passage is the preposition
repeated in the Greek text. Chrysostom (see sec. 6) interprets
“fire” as part of the blessing promised. So many modern
commentators.—R.]